MPs’ defection looms in PF

SOME Patriotic Front members of Parliament who will not be readopted in their constituencies on account of member rejection or under-performance plan to defect to opposition political parties so that they can try their luck on new party tickets, PF deputy secretary general Mumbi Phiri has revealed.

She has however said the PF would not adopt serving MPs who have lost popularity on account of having failed to perform in their constituencies because such candidates could only jeopardise the chances of the ruling party to retain power.
Mrs Phiri said the ruling party was also aware that a number of its MPs would in May after the dissolution of Parliament resign from the ruling party but has challenged them to leave now rather than later.
She said in an interview that the PF was not going to adopt unpopular candidates at both parliamentary and local government levels on ‘‘humanitarian grounds’’ and in the process ruin the chances of President Edgar Lungu’s re-election..
Mrs Phiri said the adoption process would ensure that only the best candidates were picked and that those who had made the PF unpopular in their constituencies should know that their time was up and they would not be considered.
‘‘I want to tell them to just go now rather than later. If you are not popular, you will not be adopted because we do not want to take chances and ruin our chance of retaining power. We are on top of things and we know that some of the unpopular MPs will be defecting to the opposition,” Mrs Phiri said.
And Mrs Phiri has charged that the PF would soon be taking action against former vice-president Guy Scott for having endorsed UPND president Hakainde Hichilema when he (Scott) was senior member of the party and central committee member. Dr Scott has however said he did not endorse Mr Hichilema but that his party, the deregistered Democratic Front (DF), supported Mr Hichilema.
Mrs Phiri said the PF was unmoved with the decision by Dr Scott to endorse Mr Hichilema because the former vice-president had always been against President Lungu.
She said there were many other people in the PF who had lost value to the ruling party and were only acting as excess baggage and should therefore leave the party and continue flocking to the UPND which she said had become a political dumpsite for rejected politicians.
Mrs Phiri said President Michael Sata (late) knew Dr Scott very well and never trusted him and that was why during the life of the late president, the Lusaka Central MP was never allowed to act as president.
She said Dr Scott was a bitter man because President Lungu started as his deputy minister in the vice-president’s office but that the Head of State kept on rising as Home Affairs minister, Defence and Justice Minister as well as the PF secretary general before being elected President in January 2015.2016 elections given greenlight